A sweet and salty decadent treat. Peanut butter cookie dough brownies layers together sweet chocolate base, salty peanut butter cookie dough, and a generous sprinkling of chopped peanut butter chocolate candies.
Reese’s cups translated into decadent brownies!
The combination of chocolate and peanut butter has become a timeless pairing thanks to Reese’s cups.
The sweet and delicate chocolate with the salty and rich peanut butter is just so perfect together.
These brownies are made with edible cookie dough that’s safe to eat!
Yes, we have all snuck in a taste of raw cookie dough at some point.
However, raw cookie does pose some health risks. It’s not just the raw eggs you should worry about. Raw flour can also contain harmful bacteria!
But, don’t worry. This is a problem we can EASILY solve!
Ingredients
Brownie batter is a simple mixture of unsweetened chocolate, butter, brown sugar, eggs, and flour. Unsweetened chocolate is also labeled as unsweetened baking chocolate.
The peanut butter cookie dough works best with homogenous smooth peanut butter, like Skippy or Jif. Natural peanut butters that require stirring before use tend to separate in this recipe.
How to Make Raw Flour Safe
Do not eat raw flour. Flour is a raw ingredient that can cause food poisoning.
Heat the flour to pasteurize the flour and kill any unwanted bacteria. There are several ways to cook the flour:
- STOVE: Toast the flour stove top on a skillet over medium high heat for about 2-5 minutes until warm throughout.
- MICROWAVE: Place flour in a microwave safe bowl. Cook for about 90 seconds (1 minute 30 seconds), stirring every 20 seconds.
- BAKE: Spread flour on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 5 minutes.
Brownie Batter
This brownie base is made with melted unsweetened chocolate.
Also labeled as unsweetened baking chocolate or baking chocolate, this chocolate bar is the purest form of chocolate. It is does not contain any sugar or dairy.
Unsweetened chocolate bars are purely 100 percent processed cacao beans!
Chopped unsweetened chocolate is gently melted in the microwave until smooth. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate! You want it silky and luscious like the image above.
Combine the melted chocolate with melted butter, sugar, and eggs. Fold in the flour until just combined.
Then, spread batter into a prepared baking pan. Bake until set.
Though not necessary, I highly recommend you take the extra step to “cook” the raw flour before mixing together the peanut butter cookie dough.
This recipe works best with homogenous peanut butter like Skippy or Jif.
Natural peanut butter (such as those that require refrigeration or stirring before use, will not yield the same results.
The cookie dough is a cross between the filling of a Reese’s cup and a peanut butter fudge. You could also scoop up mini balls of dough, freeze them and dip them in chocolate to make peanut butter cookie dough pops.
More Peanut Butter Chocolate Recipes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies– soft and chewy chocolate based cookies studded with dark chocolate chunks and peanut butter morsels.
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twisted Bread-decadent peanut butter and mini chocolate chips swirled into a soft enriched dough
- Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches– sweet peanut butter ice cream sandwiched with Ritz crackers then dipped in luscious melted chocolate
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownies
Ingredients
Brownies:
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, , (115 g), finely chopped
- 1 cup unsalted butter, , (227 g), melted
- 2 cup light brown sugar, , 400 g), packed
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, (130 g)
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough:
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, (195 g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter , (113 g) softened, room temp
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter*, (135 g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar, (100 g), packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar, (100 g)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt*
- 2 Tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste, or pure vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cup Reese’s cups, roughly chopped
Instructions
Brownie Batter
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. Line pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium microwaveable bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals on half power until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir after each intervals to ensure even melting. Set aside to slightly cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk until combined. Add in cooled melted chocolate. Fold in the flour and mix until just incorporated.
- Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center of brownie comes out clean. Let cool in pan.
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
- Set large shallow skillet over medium heat. Add flour. Stir often using a small whisk or silicone spatula to evenly distribute heat and prevent burning. Cook for 2-5 minutes until flour is warm.*
- Prepare cookie dough while waiting for brownies to cool. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Add in milk and vanilla. Stir in flour just until combined.
- Spread the cookie dough over the cooled brownies in an even layer. Sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups on top. Slightly press toppings into the cookie dough layer.
- Refrigerate completed cookie dough brownie until firm to the touch. Alternatively, place in the freezer to speed up the process. The colder and firmer the dough, the easier it will be to cut later.
Notes
- STOVE: Toast the flour stove top on a skillet over medium high heat for about 2-5 minutes until warm throughout.
- MICROWAVE: Place flour in a microwave safe bowl. Cook for about 90 seconds (1 minute 30 seconds), stirring every 20 seconds.
- BAKE: Spread flour on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 5 minutes.
- Unsweetened chocolate is also labeled as unsweetened baking chocolate or baking chocolate.
- It is best to use homogenous smooth peanut butter like Skippy or Jif. Natural peanut butters that require refrigeration or stirring before use, will not yield the same results.
- Use Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Other kosher salt brands are far saltier.
- Any milk alternative may be used in place of cow’s milk.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
hi! i’m slowly becoming obsessed with this blog! so glad i found you. do you use cooking chocolate or normal chocolate? thanks xx
This recipe uses unsweetened chocolate. Sometimes it’s labeled as unsweetened baking chocolate. Hope that helps!
Can you substitute salted butter if you don’t have enough unsalted onhand? Have you tried that?
The thing with using salted butter is you don’t know how much salt is actually in the butter. Some salted butters are more salty than others, so you might have to adjust the amount of additional salt you add in the batter. Otherwise, you can substitute salted butter if that’s all you have.
Just discovered your amazing blog and recipes. Holy hanna…you are so talented!!! I have pinned quite a few recipes and all are on my “to try” list. Will let you know the outcome…Thanks for sharing!!Denise (DeeDee..your newest follower)
Yay! I’m so glad you found me, Denise! Happy baking! I can’t wait for you to try out the recipes :)
O.M.G.!!! These look incredible! I am drooling… I want to make this recipe TODAY!! I don’t see eggs listed in the ingredients for the brownie layer – but in the instructions it says to add them one at a time… How many eggs go in the brownies? Thank you for amazing inspiration!! I can’t wait to try them.
Oops! 4 large eggs for the brownie layer. Sorry, I updated the recipe. Hope you love the brownies! :)
They look just amazing, I will have to try them out. Thanks for posting them :D
You’re very welcome! Thanks for visiting my blog :)
Um how good are these! They look so decadent; perfect treat to bring to a party, these would be dangerous if I had the whole pan to myself!
Thanks! haha yes, these are dangerous to have by yourself!